Moore: Is there a better NFC East team than the Cowboys right now?

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Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray (29) runs up the field as Kansas City Chiefs inside linebacker Derrick Johnson (56) chases after him during the first half of play at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Sunday, September 15, 2013.

IRVING — For those who have spent the last few days lamenting the state of the Cowboys’ offense, for skeptics convinced a 1-1 start is proof that the franchise is doomed to wallow in mediocrity for yet another season, keep an open mind when hit with this question.

How good must the Cowboys be to win the NFC East?

Feel better? If you’ve followed the rest of the division these first two weeks, you should.

Yes, the loss in Kansas City is a repetitive reminder that many of the same flaws exist. But the Cowboys are far from the only team in the division with flaws.

Every team in the NFC East lost Sunday. Two of them — Philadelphia and New York — suffered home losses. The Giants, Eagles and Washington Redskins lost by a combined 39 points.

The Cowboys’ 17-16 loss is a crowning achievement in comparison.

“There’s no doubt you always want every other team in the division to lose,” tight end Jason Witten said. “That probably does help in the grand scheme of things.

“But it’s too early to talk much about that. We need to focus on ourselves and getting better.”

Witten is right. Striving to not be the worst of a bad lot is a motivational tool coaches and players never use and rarely results in success. If the Cowboys don’t improve, at least one other team in the division will.

But at the moment, what team in the NFC East is better than the Cowboys? Dallas is tied atop the division with Philadelphia and is the only team that hasn’t lost at home in the first two weeks of the season.

The Redskins have given up a staggering 71 points. That would make them the most porous defense in the league if it weren’t for the Giants, who have given up 77 points. The Eagles aren’t much better, allowing 60 points.

The Cowboys field the best defense in the division through two weeks. Philadelphia has scored the most points, but the Cowboys aren’t as far behind as you might think (63-52) and are in line with what the Giants and Redskins have done offensively.

You may have heard the Cowboys struggle on the ground with an average of 62 yards a game. That’s nearly double what the Giants (36.5 yards) have averaged.

Solace based on the misery of others isn’t a firm foundation. The Cowboys know that. They also know they were unable to win against a Chiefs team that did everything in its power in the fourth quarter — nine penalties, one negating an interception, a fumbled kickoff return and Jamaal Charles running out of bounds as Kansas City tried to run out the clock — to hand the victory to the Cowboys.

Every team in the division should be humbled by the fact it went 0-3 on Sunday against the AFC West, a division many argued was the league’s worst heading into this season. It appears the NFC East is far from the SEC of the NFL, as Washington general manager Bruce Allen maintained last month.

And you thought owner Jerry Jones was the only club official in the division to deal in hyperbole.

As head coach Jason Garrett likes to say, the Cowboys have problems they must clean up. If this team doesn’t run the ball better, if it doesn’t become more efficient offensively, if it doesn’t force turnovers and avoid injury, it will miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.

But the Cowboys have gone into the final game of the regular season the last two years with a chance to win the division. This team is close. And no one can argue the Redskins, Giants or Eagles are appreciably better than last season based on these early results.

It’s hard to make a compelling argument that the Cowboys should win the division.

But for now, you can certainly ask, why not?

Catch David Moore and Robert Wilonsky on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310) for Intentional Grounding every Wednesday night from 7-8 p.m. during the regular season.